Stop what you are doing right NOW!!!!

Well, the holidays are over, and things are starting to get back to normal. Everyone is heading to the gym with their New Years resolutions, and doing their best to eat better. We begin to find our way back to the normal life that happens for 10 1/2 months a year, before the world turns upside down for the holidays. And then....

Something happens to make you "stop what you are doing right now". I had this experience this week. A whirlwind, you might say. Started with taking my sister to the airport to send her to Guatemala for a week...that was the easy part. Then waking up Tuesday to find my father in the hospital (he's doing better now!), then going to what I thought would be a routine dental appointment, and having it turned into an emergency root canal with a specialist. What a good reminder!

It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff, running to do this thing, taking the kids to their activities, doing things for everyone else. Sometimes, your body stops and says "Stop what you are doing right now!", and gives you no option but to drop whatever you are doing and deal with whatever is going on with it. In this case, my tooth decided that it was time for me to stop, and would not take no for an answer. Extreme pain will do that to you, along with the flu, or perhaps some other random accident.

These are good times to stop and say to yourself, and your body, "I hear you, and thank you for the reminder". The reminder being that we must always take care of ourselves before we can take care of anyone else. If we don't, that reminder will slam us in the forehead.

What does that mean for my motivation and your motivation? It means that we must learn to say no sometimes. It means that we need to get the exercise our body needs to not only stay healthy, but relieve stress. And it means we need to fuel our body with the right things. I have been eating without thinking about all the things I should or should not eat the last few days as I try to recover from this. But as my brain has cleared, I am renewed. My breakfast of two eggs, peanut butter on half a sandwich thin and milk will help my body to recover, and continue on my chosen path.

So, what are you motivated to do? Take a moment to remind yourself of your goals for this year (not a big fan of "resolutions", because very few are ever kept past the first week), and restart today. Every day is a new beginning. How will you begin today?

**Oh...and weight lost update next week. Weight watchers was closed on my normal meeting day during the holidays, so couldn't make it. Good news ahead, right? :-)